January 22, 2013

How to Make a Music Video That Doesn't Suck

By Leah McKissock

In this
installment of Cheap Trick, music video director Leah McKissock sheds
her insight and know-how on making a decent music video with little
monetary funds.

No one ever said making music videos was easy. Making good
music videos on a low-budget is even harder. I’ve been making music
videos independently (outside the system of reps, production companies,
and commissioners) for many years and have been slowly working my way up
to bigger budgets. However, no matter how much the budget increases, it
doesn’t change the process. My producer and I are always trying to find
a way to push our budget as hard as we can. We always have to cut our
own pay way down (or entirely) and we always have to try to work out
deals with everyone. It doesn’t have to be this way, I suppose, but if
you care immensely about the quality of your work it kind of goes with
the territory. If you’re interested in making low-budget music videos
that can stand strong against the big ones, than my list of 7 tips
(based on personal experiences in dealing with this) could serve to help
you in your difficult journey ahead.

Tip #1: Give yourself time
“Haven’t you heard the saying? Good, fast, and cheap–everyone wants all
three, but it’s only possible to have two!” said my cinematographer on
my last music video shoot. As I was stunned by the bold wisdom of her
argument, I began to realize that this basically sums up the unavoidable
problem with filmmaking. In music videos, when you consider the “iron
triangle” concept you’ll especially find that what most bands and record
labels ask for is impossible. That said, you need to carefully consider
all three of these game-changing factors (good, fast, and cheap) before
you even start planning the video. Since you can’t make your video
good, fast, and cheap all at once, you have to decide which of these are
your biggest priority. In all of my experiences, the first thing I
choose to let go of is “fast.” “Good” is my main priority because
what’s the point of making the video if it’s not. “Cheap” isn’t up to
me, but time is just there, so why not spend more of it making the video
good?

All of my videos
(especially the lowest budget ones) took a lot of time to make. Often 6
months total from beginning to end. This I would say is probably the
most important tip I could give. You have to make sure that no one is
rushing you to complete the video in an unreasonable amount of time (and
by unreasonable I mean “will affect the quality of the final product”).
I definitely cannot stress this piece of advice enough. Another
important thing to note is that you have to make sure that both the song
and artist you’re making the video for is worth all of that painstaking
time and energy. You’re essentially spending a lot of free time (yours
and others’) to make something that promotes the artist more than
yourself, so it’s best to feel passionate about the song and work with
nice people who appreciate your efforts.

Tip #2: Make “low-budget” cool
Sometimes low-budget videos have a charm and quirkiness that expensive
ones will never have. I say use that to your advantage. Make the
low-budget aspects of your video look that way on purpose. To me, this
is how all the greatest filmmakers achieved something special on a low
budget; and in music videos a lot of the best concepts are simple and
done in a clever way.

My video for LBCK,
“Start,” for example, cost 1K. We shot it on a Canon 5D over the course
of 2 days, with a 15 person crew (that all worked for free), in a small
lighting studio at my school. The video relies mostly on a stop-motion
animation effect, done in front of a solid white screen and towards the
end of the video, a green screen. The idea was for one dancer to do the
same choreography over and over again as the color of her hair and
wardrobe pieces change to the beat of the song. If we had a higher
budget (or if we wanted to be lazy), we could have just keyed out each
changing element and altered them in post, but instead I wanted to take
the long route and make it look low-budget on purpose. I made our dancer
(Eloise DeLuca) do the choreography and change costumes hundreds of
times. She knew ahead of time that this was the schedule, but definitely
started to hate me by the end of it. When the video was all cut
together and done though, it was clear that making the changes in-camera
gave the video a lot more life. At the end of the day, I think you have
to let the video be what it is. Make your video proud of it’s own
low-budgetness!

Tip #3: Keep the crew small
The less people you have on set, the less people you have to pay and
spend money on feeding. Obviously, you can’t exploit people. Each
department has to be comfortable with their support team for the work
they’re accomplishing, but you have to be reasonable. A lot of film sets
have too many people standing around doing nothing. You have to really
figure out ahead of time (with each department) how many people you
reasonably need to pull it off. When on a low budget the simpler the
concepts are and the less crew members you need, the better.

Tip #4: Shoot where you knowLocations can
be one of the most expensive parts of filmmaking. The best way to get
around this problem is to shoot in places you already have access to
(like your apartment or your school). The other way to add production
value to your video is to shoot guerilla-style in locations with good
natural lighting. Often if you have a very stripped-down cast and crew
and are shooting on a small camera, you can get away with this. I’ve
even done it on larger cameras (like the Arri Alexa) and haven’t gotten
stopped because the area was low-key enough and we shot what we needed
very quickly. Definitely keep your shots simple and strip it down to
less shots if you’re going to take this approach, but I do highly
recommend it for low-budget videos.

McKissock at work on the LBCK's "Start."

Tip #5: Get a kick-ass producer
Your producer’s job is one of the most difficult when dealing with low
budgets. If you don’t have a producer that kicks ass and truly believes
in your project, then they won’t be able to make the tight financial
constraints work. The most valuable thing a project can have is a
producer with killer connections. You can get all kinds of deals if your
producer knows the right people (i.e., good crew members, equipment,
and services all for less). My best producer has saved me thousands of
dollars and made my projects look like they cost 5xs as much. Find
someone that you click with and knows how to stretch a dollar like
crazy.

Tip #6: Find student deals
If you’re a band looking for someone to make you a low-budget video or
you’re a director looking for a producer, I highly recommend you find a
student in film school. A student in any film department will have
access to equipment, tons of spots on campus that you can shoot in for
free, access to discounted permits, and mad discounts at prop houses.
(Side note: *If you live in LA, go to Sony Props and ask about their
student discount. It’s insane!).

Directors and producers
who are already graduated from film school will have a much more
difficult time trying to make something on a super low budget. So bands,
go find a talented student to make your video if you’re trying to make
it with less than 5K. Trust me, they can stretch that budget way further
than anyone signed to a production company can.

For example, another
video I directed while I was a student was for His Orchestra, on a
project called “Black Coffin.” This video was shot in 1 day and done
entirely on a stage of a theater at my school. Everyone worked for free
and we borrowed a lot of equipment from the film department. When you’re
in film school, a lot of people are looking to gain experience as crew
members, but also, all of the dancers in the video were students as well
which helped the project out enormously. Finding student deals is the
only way I was ever able to pull off ultra low-budget music videos while
still maintaining high production value.

Tip #7: Wear multiple hats
Another essential tip in making a cool low-budget music video is to wear
multiple hats. Although you can’t do every position on set (that would
be suicide), you can however do a couple of jobs that are easier for you
to do than to try and communicate what you want to others. For me, the
areas I used to do myself while simultaneously directing were usually
production design and editing. I still edit my own projects all the time
because a) you save money and b) you can get what you want easier and
faster. Obviously, the jobs that you take on will be different for each
director. Some people shoot their own videos instead of having to hire a
cinematographer, other people produce their own stuff, etc. All I know
is that if you want to save money in certain areas, find what else
you’re good at doing and wear multiple hats. This is crucial for pulling
off your vision on a low budget.

In conclusion to my 7
tips, here is a link to my latest music video. Although this video is
not so low budget (according to most people’s standards these days), all
7 of my tips were still applied to the making of this project and it
certainly wouldn’t exist otherwise. Good luck to your low-budget music
video making! I hope my tips and advice will find you well.

About Leah: Leah is a music video director based in LA. She began
making films at the tender age of 8, tinkering with her parents’ video
camera and oftentimes experimenting with stop-motion animation and
in-camera effects. Her awards include the Grand Prize of the OnVidi
Student Video Contest and the Best Student Video at the 2011 Los Angeles Music Video Festival (LAMVF). You can learn more about her at leahmckissock.com